Fitz Question

i've been looking into Illegitimate children of British King, and i found something, a ton of them have names that start with Fitz

Henry FitzJames son of King James II
James FitzJames son of King James II
Charles FitzRoy son of King Charles II
Adolphus FitzClarence son of King William IV
Frederick FitzClarence son of King William IV
Henrietta FitzJames daughter of King James II
Adam FitzRoy son of King Edward II
Matilda FitzRoy daughter of King Henry I
Richard FitzRoy son of King John I
Barbara FitzRoy son of Charles II
Henry FitzRoy son of King Charles II
Henry FitzRoy son of King Henry I
George FitzClarence son of King William IV
George FitzRoy son of King Charles II
Charles FitzCharles son of King Charles II
Henry FitzRoy son of King Henry VIII


so what gives? what does Fitz mean? and i get why FitzCharles for the sons of Charles and FitzJames for the kids of James, and FitzClarence for kids of the Duke of Clarence, but what is FitzRoy about? :confused:
 
i've been looking into Illegitimate children of British King, and i found something, a ton of them have names that start with Fitz

Henry FitzJames son of King James II
James FitzJames son of King James II
Charles FitzRoy son of King Charles II
Adolphus FitzClarence son of King William IV
Frederick FitzClarence son of King William IV
Henrietta FitzJames daughter of King James II
Adam FitzRoy son of King Edward II
Matilda FitzRoy daughter of King Henry I
Richard FitzRoy son of King John I
Barbara FitzRoy son of Charles II
Henry FitzRoy son of King Charles II
Henry FitzRoy son of King Henry I
George FitzClarence son of King William IV
George FitzRoy son of King Charles II
Charles FitzCharles son of King Charles II
Henry FitzRoy son of King Henry VIII


so what gives? what does Fitz mean? and i get why FitzCharles for the sons of Charles and FitzJames for the kids of James, and FitzClarence for kids of the Duke of Clarence, but what is FitzRoy about? :confused:

I was always under the impression that it just meant that he was a bastard. Simple as that.

From the armenian Genocide

Adoption by other nationalities
In later times, similar forms were coined for members of the English and British royal family, who historically lacked a surname, and particularly for illegitimate children of kings and princes (Fitzroy, son of the king; Fitzjames, son of the king James II of England; and FitzClarence, son of the Duke of Clarence). From this later use, it has been implied that the name indicates illegitimacy, which was not originally the case.
The Irish name Fitzpatrick is not of Norman origin; it is an Anglicisation the Gaelic surname Mac Giolla Phádraig. Other surnames beginning "Mac Giolla" were made into "Magilla-" (e.g. Magillacuddy), but the Fitzpatricks claimed Norman heritage in a time when the Normans dominated much of Ireland.
Fitz is also a stand-alone German surname originating in the Palatinate region of Germany.
 

Krall

Banned
what does Fitz mean?

It means "son of".

Also, from Wikipedia:

Wikipedia said:
In later times, similar forms were coined for members of the English and British royal family, who historically lacked a surname, and particularly for illegitimate children of kings and princes (Fitzroy, son of the king; Fitzjames, son of the king James II of England; and FitzClarence, son of the Duke of Clarence). From this later use, it has been implied that the name indicates illegitimacy, which was not originally the case.
 

Thande

Donor
There are a ridiculous number of Fitzes running around in the 1100s and 1200s in particular: those Normans must have chatted up a lot of Saxon barmaids in the process of making the English language.
 
There are a ridiculous number of Fitzes running around in the 1100s and 1200s in particular: those Normans must have chatted up a lot of Saxon barmaids in the process of making the English language.

I think the illegitimacy angle came later, but the reason there were so many Fitzes running around was because they were all named William:rolleyes:
 
thanks guys i've found that not all royal Fitzs are bastards,

point in case, the children of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge are named George FitzGeorge, Adolphus FitzGeorge and Augustus FitzGeorge
 
thanks guys i've found that not all royal Fitzs are bastards,

point in case, the children of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge are named George FitzGeorge, Adolphus FitzGeorge and Augustus FitzGeorge

Well, in that specific case, two of the children were born out of wedlock, and all were invalid under the Royal marriages act. Then again, his wife also went by FitzGeorge because of the status of their marriage, so another interpretation could be that they simply inheireted their mother's surname.

However, i would more generally agree that not everybody bearing the name fitz- was a bastard, much less a royal one. But at some point during the 17th century, it became to some degree customary to attach it to the surnames of English royal bastards
 
French "fils de" (feess d) (=son of), got metathesiszed (sounds switched around) to "fids", spelled "fitz". As the early post pointed out, this simply means "son of". Now... If you are a bastard son, you don't inherit the property, so 'son of your dad' is one possible name format.

Note that Xson (Johnson, Peterson, etc.) is really common among the lower classes, who didn't have named estates to use as names. (They did, of course, have occupations - Smith and descriptives - White, etc.)
 
Fitz just means son of, originally at least had nothing to do with legitimacy.
I think Henry II was FitzEmpress, son of the empress mathilda.
 

Thande

Donor
French "fils de" (feess d) (=son of), got metathesiszed (sounds switched around) to "fids", spelled "fitz". As the early post pointed out, this simply means "son of". Now... If you are a bastard son, you don't inherit the property, so 'son of your dad' is one possible name format.

Note that Xson (Johnson, Peterson, etc.) is really common among the lower classes, who didn't have named estates to use as names. (They did, of course, have occupations - Smith and descriptives - White, etc.)
Ah, I didn't know the etymology. Thankee.

Re the lower classes, an interesting point is that "location" surnames tend to be those of small villages rather than big cities - the reason being that it was more common for Andrew of Stapleton to move to London than for Peter of London to move to the country and be known by where he came from.
 
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